Dearly Departed
by Hannah-Nobody
Summary: He'd been staring at that house from his bedroom window ever since he could remember. There were a lot of things Natsu expected to find in the haunted manor after waiting so long to finally venture into it. Some rats, a splash of old blood, a good scare. But a lonely dead girl wasn't one of them.
1. The Manor

**A/N: A new story! Don't ask where the idea for this came from because I don't really know. Also I'm a little concerned that Lucy dies in a lot of my fics, I don't know what's wrong with me. I love her, why do I give her pain? (Wow I wonder if Natsu's ever asked himself that question). Anyway, I hope you enjoy this! Please leave a review!**

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Dearly Departed – Chapter One

The Manor

The streets were empty but the moon was full, it's glow casting an eerie light down onto the city of Magnolia. Autumn leaves danced in the gutters, stirred by a faint breeze as the last of them fell from decaying branches. The night was quiet, until a harsh shout sounded in the northern district of the sleeping city.

"Get your ass down here, Stripper! I don't like to be kept waiting."

From Natsu's side, Gajeel snickered, but above them a dishevelled Gray urged him to be quiet whilst partially hanging out of his bedroom window.

" _Be quiet,_ Hothead, you'll wake the whole damn street."

Natsu mimicked Gray's over-dramatic ' _sshh_ 'ing to Gajeel as the dark haired boy disappeared back into his room. They only had to wait a few moments before Gray reappeared, fully clothed and climbing out of his second story window. Once he reached the ground, the three of them set off without another word.

They walked down the centre of the roads, not fearing stray vehicles due to the late hour. Natsu pulled his phone out from his jeans pocket to check the time. 11:45PM. They'd definitely get there by midnight. The walk wasn't too long.

"So, just us tonight, huh?" Gray inquired.

Natsu scrunched up his nose. It was always more fun when there was a group of them, but he'd been dying to visit this place for week's now- hell more than that, _years_ \- and he'd finally mustered the courage to suggest it to the group, but at least one of them was always busy.

But tonight, his patience was at an end.

"Jellal had a date with Erza tonight so we didn't even bother to swing by his place," Natsu began to explain to Gray, "We went to get Loke but he wouldn't come to the window so I climbed up to get him and- Well, let's just say he wasn't alone. Romeo is too young for this, and Gajeel was too lazy to walk across town to see if Sting and Rogue wanted to come."

"Gehe," Gajeel snickered, "Two of them would have shit their pants anyway. Just like I'm expecting Salamander here will."

Natsu ignored Gajeel's comment. His excitement was building and he didn't want to waste his energy getting into a fight with Gajeel before they even got there.

Rounding another corner, their destination came into full view.

"Where are we going exactly?" Gray inquired.

Natsu couldn't help the grin that spread across his features.

"Where to you think?" He replied before gesturing to the house on the hill.

Now unobscured by Magnolia's city skyline, tonight's mission stood atop its signature hill overlooking the town. The mansion was framed by black clouds in the distance, making the abandoned building look even more ominous. It was huge. Even from where they now stood at the bottom of the hill, the peeling white paint and crippling columns were visible. Natsu could have sown he heard the building moan from the strain of the wind. He pulled his scarf tighter around himself as he shivered. They were here.

Heartfilia Manor.

Rumoured to be the most haunted place in Magnolia, the building had stood abandoned atop this hill all of Natsu's life. He had a perfect view of it from his bedroom window, the building seemed to taunt him whenever he deigned to open his curtains. Mocking him for not being brave enough to enter, for fearing the very sight of it.

But now here he was, standing at the manors gate's at the bottom of the hill, finally about to go inside. He still felt that lingering fear deep down in his gut, but was he hell about to let it show when Gajeel and Gray were standing either side of him. That was exactly the reason he'd brought them along.

There was also the hope that they'd be scared shitless too, of course.

Gajeel strode up to the large iron gates, ignoring the multiple 'keep out' and 'BEWARE' signs strapped to the bars. He fumbled with the ancient lock and chains for a few moments before growling in frustration.

"No good," He explained, "We're gonna have to climb it."

Turns out, they didn't have to climb it. Without much searching, the three of them found a segment of the stone wall that lined the grounds that was nothing more than a heap of rubble hidden behind some shrubs.

"I can't believe we're doing this," Gray sighed, shaking his head, "Have you heard what they say about this place?"

Yes actually, Natsu had. With all the stories he'd been told about this place, he could probably be considered an expert. Of course, all the stories varied. It had happened so long ago that you couldn't simply go to the town's retirement home and ask one of those old cronies what had happened. For some of them, the Manor had even been abandoned when they were kids.

The story most frequently told, and the one Natsu chose to believe, was this one:

 _It had been a beautiful spring night in the late 19_ _th_ _century and Lord Heartfilia had decided to throw a grand ball. People flocked to the manor, not just from Magnolia but all across Fiore. And among those hordes of people? A deadly wielder of dark magic, the King of Tartarus himself! This diabolical man had been lured from the depths of the underworld by Jude's astonishing wealth, and sought to steel it all for himself while bringing misery in his wake._

 _The party was in full swing when he arrived. The music stopped and the air was instead filled with screams. No one could stop him and his demons painted the manors white walls with the blood of the party guests, torturing all who attended until the sun rose the next day. It had been a slaughter._

Of course, there were gaping plot holes in this version of events, but Natsu didn't really mind. Let his imagination fill in all the gruesome gaps. It only made the story all the more terrifying.

"What's the matter?" Natsu chided Gray as the two of them hesitated at the threshold, " _Scared?_ "

"Would you two stop screwin' around and hurry up already?" Gajeel groaned from beyond the wall.

Natsu was shocked at his cousin's boldness for a moment before he remembered to gather his courage.

 _This was it._

He stepped onto Heartfilia soil.

Nothing happened.

He tried to disguise his sigh of relief as he followed Gajeel up the hill, Gray trailing behind him.

The closer they got to the manor the more his mind raced. With each new step, this was the closest he'd gotten to it. All his life, he'd ogled it from the bottom of the hill. Or even as far as his bedroom window. Never daring to get closer.

And now? Now after striding up the weed-covered hill, the cracks in the paint were only an arm's length away. He could see details of the decrepit home that he hadn't noticed from a distance. The aging wood, the broken windows, the faint smell of mildew seeping out from inside the house. It sent shivers up his spine.

The three of them proceeded cautiously once they reached the outer decking of the manor, testing their weight on the wood one by one before slowly inching towards the front door. Like the rest of the manors exterior, the large doors were in a sorry state of decay. The once golden handles were now brown and rusted, and the doors once intricate frame had fallen prey to termites long ago.

All of them hesitated at the doorway. Natsu felt two pairs of eyes baring into his back and turned to see the stern gazes of his two friends behind him, each of them having crossed their arms over their chests.

"Well, Salamander, this was your idea," Gajeel gestured towards the door, "Go head."

Natsu was about to call the two of them cowards, but the jibe got stuck in his throat. He was pretty scared himself, but he couldn't turn back now. He'd never hear the end of it if he did.

He turned and reached out to the door.

His hand inched slowly closer, his mind going a mile a minute. Did he knock? No. Of course he didn't knock. No one would answer. Well, no one _living_ anyway. Would a ghost answer the door if he knocked? Just how many ghosts were in there anyway? There had to be a lot, if it had been a slaughter. Oh god, oh god. What was he doing? He was leading them into a death trap! This was insane, they were all going to die a horrible death. Ripped apart by spirits or demons or-

His fingers touched the door. He pushed it open.

And the damn thing fell straight off its hinges, falling inside the house with a loud bang that Natsu felt in his bones. A cloud of dust erupted from the floor beneath it, blinding the three of them momentarily as they coughed and sputtered, trying to get decades of accumulated dust out of their lungs.

Once the dust cleared and he could breathe again, Natsu hesitantly stuck his head through the doorway.

Only to be promptly shoved all the way in by one of his friends.

He fell face first onto the fallen door, another cloud of dust attacking his senses. He coughed as his friends laughed. He wasn't sure which one of them had pushed him in so he'd just have to be sure and remember to beat both of them up later. Right now though, he was too busy scrambling to turn on the flashlight on his phone.

Behind him, Gray and Gajeel lit up their own phones and cast their light into the room just as he did. Slowly, he moved his flashlight across the room.

Despite the decay, it was clear this had once been a grand hall. The ceiling stretched high above them, a chandelier hanging precariously from rusted chains. Faded tapestries and paintings decorated the damp walls, and parts of the grand staircase at the far end of the room had given way to age.

The tiled floor was void of any furniture, making Natsu think that this room was still decorated for the ball until he realised it was likely that this place had been looted long ago. Empty beer cans and deflated balloons littered one of the far corners. So they hadn't been the first to enter here since.

"Where's all the blood?" Gray wondered aloud, finally entering the manor.

As he stood, Natsu realised he was right. There wasn't a speck of blood in sight. Rot, mould, patches of damp, sure. But no blood.

Natsu walked further in, the others following behind him before they fanned out and inspected different corners of the grand hall. The dust tickled at his nose, but it didn't distract him from wandering over to a large fireplace on the right hand wall. Atop it sat ornaments and pictures that previous looters hadn't deemed to be worth anything. Natsu was just reaching out to scrape the grime from what seemed to be a family portrait when a wail sounded from across the room.

Started, he turned sharply, just in time to see Gajeel scampering away from some rats. Natsu shared an amused glace with Gray who was still standing close to the door before turning back to the objects on the mantelpiece.

He refrained from touching them now. It felt wrong to disturb anything, and he'd already demolished the front door. He hoped any ghosts would forgive him for that.

A creak sounded to his left.

Swiftly moving his flashlight to where the sound had emanated from, he caught sight of a door on the wall behind the stairs slowly swaying open. His heart beat sped up.

"Did you guy's see-" He turned to ask his friends.

But they weren't there.

His heart was pounding now as he turned back to face the door. The breeze. It had just been the breeze. Or, more than likely, it had been his stupid friends.

"C'mon guys, this isn't funny." He called as he ever so slowly made his way to the door.

No one answered. He called out their names, but no reply came. Natsu didn't know what he had expected really. He'd chosen probably the worst company to come here with after all, but he was not about to let those two morons scare him. He wasn't going to give them so much of a yelp.

Reaching the door, he laid his hand flat against the aged wood and pushed it open all the way, shining his flashlight into the corridor beyond as he did so. To his immense relief, the door stayed upright. But unfortunately his comrades weren't on the other side.

He turned left and proceeded down the corridor, hoping to catch his friends in the act. The rug beneath his feet muffled his footsteps, and the moonlight that streamed through the large broken windows illuminated the corridor enough that he could turn off his flashlight and turn the element of surprise in his favour.

If the others were still using their phones, he couldn't see the light at this end of the corridor. Pausing in his exploration, Natsu cast one last look down the corridor before turning to look in the other direction.

A piercing sound filled his ears and as he turned he came face to face with a contorted face of white that reached for him with thin fingers. Despite his earlier assurances that he wouldn't be startled, Natsu's heart leapt to his throat as he screamed and stumbled backwards, losing his footing and falling to the ground. His head made a distinctive smacking sound when it hit the floor.

He must have blacked out for a moment, because when he opened his eyes his vision was blurry and a worried voice filled his ears.

"Oh god, please don't be dead, please don't be dead, please don't be dead."

Natsu shook his head to clear away the fuzziness, replacing it with a dull ache as he took in the sight above him.

A girl leaned over him. Her face extremely pale and a picture of worry. The sight shocked him so much that he sat up abruptly.

And his head went _straight through_ her own.

Realising that the two of them should have clashed, he turned to face her whilst simultaneously scrambling away in fear. All of his instincts were screaming at him to run, but once he got a good enough distance away and the figure stood up, he gave himself a moment to process.

She was definitely a ghost. There was no other explanation for that fact that he had moved _through_ her. But honestly? She didn't look like he pictured a ghost would. Sure, if you looked at her too long you would realise that you could see through her, but her figure possessed none of the rotting flesh and oozing blood that all the horror movies he'd seen had promised. Instead, she simply didn't have much colour to her. Her pale skin was the same colour as the floaty white dress she wore. The garment reached her knees, giving way to shapely legs and dirtied feet that didn't quite touch the floor. Her faded blonde hair floated around her as well as her dress, as though she was underwater. And her dark eyes looked sunken as though she'd gone some nights without sleep.

None of that stopped her from looking intimating though when she placed her hands on her hips and scowled at him.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" She shouted at him, "Boo! Go! Leave! Or-Or I'll curse you!"

"I- You- What?" Natsu spluttered.

She growled to herself in frustration before hovering close to him. His heartbeat sped up once more, but he didn't back away. Not this time. She leaned down so that her eyes bore into his own as she waved a threatening finger at him. He expected her proximity to come with the stench of rot but surprisingly there was… nothing.

"I am sick and tired of little boys treating my home like a playground," She scowled at him, "Now leave! _Or else._ "

She stood straight once more, crossing her arms and turning away from him with her head held high. Apparently she'd made her point.

The sight of her foot tapping impatiently as she hung in the air was enough to make him snicker. She wasn't very scary for a ghost.

"Or else what?" He asked from where he remained on the floor.

"I-I beg your pardon?" she asked warily.

Her confusion only made this whole situation more amusing to him. He rose to his feet, brushing the dust from his jeans before crossing his own arms and smirking at her defiantly.

"You said 'leave, or else'" He grinned, "Or else, _what?_ "

The girl huffed.

"Now listen here sir, I-"

She raised her finger to him again, and when Natsu tried to swat it away, his hand sailed right through it. He laughed at her shocked expression as her words died off in her throat. He continued to send one fist to her face, the other her gut.

They both sailed right through her.

His laughter filled the empty corridor, drowning out the sounds of her protests as he continued to wave his hands around in the space were her stomach should be. She tried to back away but he kept following her. She was in the middle of berating him for being rude when something cracked under his foot.

His phone.

Natsu groaned to himself and picked it up. The screen had been shattered. Guess that's what he got for owning an iPhone.

"Now that you've recovered your- your… _thing,_ " The ghost girl stammered, "Could you please leave?"

"Why?" He asked, ignoring her request.

"Because this is my home!" She squeaked, "How would you like it if strangers just barged in and started parading around _your_ living room?!"

"Well, I guess that would- hang on wait a second," Natsu frowned as he realised her words, "Your _home_? You mean you live here? In this dump?"

"Y-Yes," She frowned back at him, but her expression turned sad, "But it wasn't a dump when I was…"

"Alive?" He supplied. This was so weird. He was talking to a ghost!

The girl's expression turned angry again and she raised her arms as though she meant to hit him, but her shoulders slumped and the blow never came. Not that he would have felt anything if she _had_ hit him. She turned and walked away from him.

"Just get out," She called over her shoulder.

He realised then that it must be awful, her life. Or… afterlife. Whatever it was. Here she was, trapped in this decaying house, all alone except for people who come looking for a scare. And how long had she been here? All the stories he'd heard were dated to the late 19th century so… over a hundred years? That was an awfully long time to be alone.

The further she got down the corridor, the more translucent she became, slowly disappearing from sight. Just as he thought she would disappear completely, he called out to her.

"Wait!" She turned, her form becoming more noticeable again as he approached her, "I'll leave, I just want to know one thing first."

"What do you wish to know?" She sighed.

"What's your name?"

She seemed surprised by his question, as though she expected him to ask something else. It made him wonder if he wasn't the first living person she'd unsuccessfully tried to scare away. For a moment he was worried that after all this time she might not even remember her name, but then her expression softened.

She offered him a gentle smile.

"It's Lucy."

"Well, it was nice to meet you Lucy," He smiled back at her, then extended his hand, "I'm Natsu."

Her smile fell and she flinched slightly. He realised his mistake in extending his hand, drawing it back with a nervous laugh, but Lucy continued to stare at him intently. Her eyes were wide and it seemed as though if she could breathe, her breath would be hitching.

"Natsu…" She whispered aloud before shaking her head and closing off her features, "Don't come back."

* * *

When Natsu found his way back to the main hall, Gajeel and Gray were there waiting. Wherever the two of them had run off to, Gray seemed to have lost his shirt along the way and, as Natsu approached them and a foul smell filled his nose, it seemed that Gajeel has been rolling around in rat piss.

Seeing Natsu turn his nose up, Gajeel sighed.

"There ain't nothing here but rat shit and dirt." His cousin noted.

"Yeah," Gray agreed, "I didn't see one drop of blood. Although I did hear someone scream before. Was that you Flame Brain?"

"Pfftt no," Natsu scoffed as he made his way to the door.

"Woah, where are you going?" Gray laughed, he clearly hadn't believed him, "We haven't explored upstairs yet."

As intriguing as it sounded, he didn't want to make that ghost girl mad. He told her he'd leave, so he would. That included getting Gajeel and Gray out of her hair too.

"It's like Gajeel said, there's nothing here," He forced his voice to sound bored, "Besides I doubt we'd survive those stairs."

The other two murmured in agreement and the three of them exited the manor. Natsu was halfway down the hill when he turned back, hoping to catch sight of Lucy in the windows. He didn't see her, but he did notice the gaping hole in the house where the door had been.

He called out to the others to wait before going back to prop the door up. It probably wouldn't stop any curious kids, but it would at least keep up the manors appearance. Someone would notice a change this big, even from the bottom of the hill. And it was likely someone one look into it, which is just was he figured Lucy didn't want.

Although he didn't struggle with the weight, the process of putting the door back did earn him a few splinters. He'd have to ask his brother to help him get them all out.

"What you do that for?" Gajeel asked when he re-joined them.

"No reason." He lied.

"Afraid you might of angered the ghosts?" Gray joked, but Natsu wasn't paying attention.

He'd turned one last time, and his eyes caught sight of white figure in one of the upper windows. She was barely noticeable, just peeking out from behind a tattered curtain. But he saw her.

The three of them parted ways soon after they were off Heartfilia grounds, leaving Natsu to ponder his thoughts about the evening as he made his way home to get some sleep before school tomorrow.

One thought stood out from all the others.

He had to go back.


	2. Unfinished Business

Dearly Departed – Chapter Two

Unfinished Business

School was as it always is: Hell.

His mind wandered as his teachers droned on and on… and on. His thoughts always led to something far away from the lectures. They travelled out the windows and cracks in the walls, soaring down back alleys and whizzing round street corners, all leading to the same place. The manor.

Lucy.

He'd never believed in ghosts, not really. The dark seemed a little more frightening after a few of those spooky horrors he watched with his friends, but after a few nights that fear faded as it always did. And all thoughts of the lingering dead drifted from his mind. But now? His whole day had been consumed by thoughts of the ghostly girl.

Why was she still there, after all these years? What was preventing her from moving on?

Only one way to find out.

As soon as the bell rang, he was up and out of the door in a flash. He weaved through the corridors in a hurry, not bothering to answer when his friends called out to him. He didn't want to get caught up doing something else. He wanted to go back to the manor. Alone this time.

The air was crisp as the autumn breeze whipped at his hair. Other townsfolk shivered against the cold, but Natsu didn't feel it. He was too distracted by his thoughts as he made his way to the manor. She'd told him not to come back, so he had to think of a reason for his return.

A reason other than curiosity.

It wasn't like he could turn up with a casserole dish and apologise for her troubles. What would a ghost do with casserole? No. He had to be tactful about this. He had to play nice, no teasing.

Oh, but teasing her had been so fun.

He grinned to himself as he made his way through the gap in the manors perimeter walls. His eyes flitted to the decrepit windows as he ascended the hill, but he couldn't make out anything inside.

Once he was at the door, he paused. Tactful, polite. Best not to anger her straight away.

He knocked.

Stepping back from the door, he looked up at the windows again. His hands gripped the strap of his school bag as he waited, but no spectre emerged.

He knocked again.

This time when he stepped back, he could see her. She was faint, but undoubtedly there. He could have sworn she was rolling her eyes too. He grinned at her and waved. It occurred to him that if someone saw him from the bottom of the hill, he'd be in a padded cell by the end of the week. But what the hell.

Lucy disappeared and he took that at his sign to enter. He made sure to be _extra careful_ with the door this time. He even set it back in place one he was inside. Dust tickled his nose. The house was still unaccustomed to someone living being in it.

"What part of 'don't come back' do you not understand?"

He turned at the sound of Lucy's voice. It was a bit unnerving actually. She just appeared out of nowhere. One minute he was lone, and the next, she was there.

She looked the same as she had the previous night. Her dress and her hair floating around her as though she was underwater. Her feet hoovering above the ground.

"Can you, like, not do that?" He asked.

"Do what?" She frowned.

"That," He gestured a hand at her, "That floaty thing. It's creepy."

"Oh," She mumbled. Her form fell. Her dress and hair seemed to succumb to gravity once her feet touched the floor, "Sorry."

Her voice was quiet, and she avoided looking at him when she mumbled her apology. She rang her hands nervously in front of her. She was shy, he realised. He instantly felt bad for calling her creepy. So much for being polite.

"Hey, it's no biggie," He reassured her, "It's actually kind of cool."

She raised her head, a shy smile gracing her lips before her brows furrowed in annoyance.

"What are you doing here Natsu?"

"I got some questions." He told her.

Lucy sighed and turned her back to him. She hoped between the old tiles on the floor, not paying him any mind as she spoke.

"Yes, I am the only one here. No, it is not fun being a ghost. It's actually incredibly boring. Yes, I am still here when you can't see me. No, I am not an apparition of the devil. No, I am not going to possess you. I have never 'like, killed people' as the youth of today so eloquently put it. And _no_ , I don't remember how I died."

Natsu stood, stunned, as Lucy continued hopping from tile to tile.

"Does that answer your questions?" She grinned at him over her shoulder.

Her grin was contagious.

"Have people really asked you all those questions?" he asked as dumped his school bag on the floor and followed her example. He jumped on the black tiles, she jumped on the white ones.

"Over the years, yes." She hopped towards the stairs, "People really have got stupider over time."

"Guess you must be a genius then."

"Of cour- Wait, are you calling me old?" She turned and frowned at him as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"No," he laughed at her pout, "I'm just saying you've been around for a while. You died like, what? A hundred and fifty years ago?"

"A hundred and twenty-two." She corrected.

"Oh, so you remember _when_ you died, but now _how_?"

Lucy jumped up onto the first rotting stair of the grand staircase and turned to him. She planted her hands firmly on her hips and sighed.

"Why are you here Natsu?"

"Why are you?" He countered.

Her mouth fell open as she groped for words, but none came. Her posture lost of all of its annoyance as she curled into herself. A tear escaped her right eye, and he watched as he left a trail down her cheek and dripped of her chin. It disappeared before it hit the floor.

"I don't know." She whispered.

He wanted to comfort her, but he wasn't quite sure how. He wasn't good with people's emotions in relatively normal situations, but this was something else. You couldn't just offer someone who'd been dead for over a hundred years a pat on the back and tell them everything was going to be alright. You couldn't even touch her!

Lucy turned and bolted up the decaying steps. Her feet never faltered, even when she stepped were the stairs had long since rotted away. It was as though the memory of them was enough to keep her upright. She disappeared again once she reached the top, but her sobs still echoed through the manor.

"Luuuucy," He groaned, "You know I can't follow you up there! Not unless you want me to be stuck here too!"

Wait. Maybe that hadn't been the best thing to say.

Sighing to himself, he decided to look around the parts of the house he hadn't gotten to explore the previous night. Let Lucy reappear in her own time.

Leaving his bag in the main hall, he headed in the direction that Gray had disappeared in last night. No way was he going the same way Gajeel did. He had to sit next to him in history that morning and his cousin had still stunk of rat pee. His girlfriend won't go near him.

Still snickering at the memory of his cousin's sour expression, Natsu crossed into a room he had yet to explore. This one was just as dusty as the main hall. It looked to be a parlour of some sorts. The furniture had clearly been colour coordinated once, but time had faded their bright hues.

Footprints trailed across the floor where he assumed Gray had wandered the previous night. By the looks of things, he'd kicked the broken sofa before drifting over and inspecting the painting above the fireplace.

Natsu followed the footsteps, wondering why Gray had been so captivated by the painting. The thought quickly answered itself. Although the painting was cracked and faded with age, its subject still stood out in the dull room. It was clear the colours had once been vibrant, and Natsu knew if it was restored it would be twice as captivating.

The painting was of Lucy.

The artist had captured her from her right side as she sat on a window seat gazing out into the night. Despite the stars in the window, she was the brightest thing in the painting. She seemed dressed for a ball, her light pink dress flaring out from her waist and hanging of her shoulders, but her hair was loose and her golden locks fell down her back. Long gloves covered the pale skin of her arms, and he noticed she was holding something in her hands. Age had blurred the details so that he couldn't quite make out what it was.

"I sat for hours like that," Her voice startled him despite its softness, "I had quite the crick in my neck."

He turned to face her and it was with a great sense of sadness that he noted she was a more faded than the painting. She turned her gaze to the painting as he stared at her and something filled her eyes. As though she wanted all the colour for herself.

"You've been in here a while," She murmured, "I was worried."

A while? He'd just come in here! Unless… unless he had been looking at that painting longer than he thought. That was embarrassing.

He cleared his throat.

"How did you know I was in here?" He asked.

She gestured to his pocket as though it was obvious. Frowning, he pulled out his phone. He choked back a wince at the sight of the still cracked screen. He really needed to get that fixed.

"It buzzes." She explained, noticing his confused expression.

"But it's on silent."

"It's how I know when people are in here," She offered instead in the face of his confusion, "Everyone carries one these days. What are they?"

Natsu's confusion turned to bafflement.

"It… it's a phone."

"I was born the same year they _invented_ the telephone Natsu," Lucy scrunched up her nose, "Phones don't look like that."

He starred at her in bewilderment. It kept shocking him just how long ago it was that she had been alive. There must be so many differences between her time and his. How would she see the world if she could leave this house?

"Well, they do now." He told her, casting away his thoughts, "And they do a lot more than just ringing people too."

"Would you like to see something cool?" She grinned at him.

When she smiled her form seemed to grow stronger. She seemed less ghostly, more alive. It made him grin in return.

He nodded and she instructed him to hold out his phone in his hand; making air quotations with her fingers when she said the word 'phone', earning a laugh. He did as he was told and she shuffled close to him.

"Watch this." She giggled.

For a moment he was confused, thinking she was going to pick the phone up despite the fact she couldn't seem to interact with things. But instead, she reached out a pale finger and placed it on the broken screen. Natsu watched as, slowly, the screen began to flicker. It then quickly started to glitch, the picture of him and his friends that was his lock screen distorting and flashing erratically.

Natsu yelped, pulling his phone away from her as she laughed at his reaction. He pressed the home button again and again but the image still kept jumping about.

"It'll go back to normal if you leave it a while," Lucy told him before quickly adding, "I think."

"You _think?_ " He wailed. He'd kill her if she'd broken his phone!

Wait.

"People usually leave after I do that, so I don't really know. You act like those things are your life line are something."

"You sound like an old person." He groaned as he shoved his phone back into his pocket.

"Technically, I am 139."

"Well, you don't look a day over 20 _grandma_."

She laughed and the sound echoed through the house, but it wasn't like when those creepy ghost kids to it in the movies. In that moment, he could have sworn he saw the room as it had been. But it was probably just his imagination.

Once her laughter died down she looked at him strangely. She seemed… grateful?

Before he had chance to interpret the look further, she turned and skipped away. Straight through a wall. Natsu shook his head in amusement, absently wishing he could do the same as he tried his best to follow her.

They ended up playing tag. Although, it would have been tag if he could touch her. Instead whatever game they were playing was more like running after her only for Natsu to get too carried away with himself and end up running into a wall that she disappeared through.

She'd always reappear when that happened, making sure he was okay before she laughed full in his face.

Eventually, once he was particularly bruised and out of breath, he slumped down on the dusty floor of the grand hall. He reached for his bag before leaning back and stuffing it behind his head to use as pillow. As he got himself into a comfortable position, Lucy appeared beside him. She sat hugging her knees to her chest, a soft smile on her face.

"Has your not-a-phone recovered yet?"

He hadn't checked, but did so now. The screen lit up, the picture fully restored. He even had full bars.

"You're lucky you don't have to buy me a new one." He smiled at her.

She chuckled and rested her head on her knees. He was glad her sadness from earlier had gone, but the conversation kept drifting back to him. She really didn't know why she was here?

"Hey Lucy?" He asked quietly.

"Hhmm?"

"If you knew how to get to heaven, would you go?"

"What makes you think I'd go to heaven?" She inquired playfully.

"I'm serious," He told her, and Natsu was not serious often, "If you could move on, go into the light or whatever, would you go?"

"Well, there isn't really much to stay for, right?" Her eyes looked sad, "And I want to see my family again, but who says they'll be there, wherever 'there' is? I can't help but wonder if I'm still here for a reason."

They let the quiet descend on them as her words sank in. He felt like that kid in _The Sixth Sense_. He had no idea how to help her, but he wanted to desperately. He liked Lucy. After today, he considered her a friend, and he hoped she felt the same way. He would be sad if she left, but if that's what she wanted…

"You know what we should do?" He spoke aloud, "We should Google it."

"What's that?" Lucy asked.

He'd noticed that she scrunched her nose whenever she didn't understand something, and she did it again now. He'd also noticed how cute that expression was. The sight made him smile.

Natsu ignored her question and sat up, pulling his phone from his pocket and unlocking it. He debated using Siri just to amaze Lucy, but he didn't think she'd believe the tall-tales he would spin about a genie living in his phone. So he just opened the google app instead.

"'Why do ghosts linger'?" She read aloud what he typed, peering over his shoulder.

He shuffled away from her, not wanting her proximity to mess up his phone again. She smirked at him as though she could sense his fear for his treasured possession.

The page loaded and he scrolled through the page results. One in particular caught his eye: _Why do spirits stay earthbound?_ He clicked on it.

"Okay, first reason says spirits can linger due to guilt, but it also says that mostly applies to suicides. Did you…?" He let his words trail off. It wasn't a question he wanted to ask.

Lucy shook her head, and he sighed in relief.

"From the way people talked about me I don't think I killed myself," She explained, "It sounded like something happened to me. But I don't know what."

He tried to ignore the thoughts her words conjured and focused on reading, but he couldn't help it. _The way people talked about me._ She was there. She didn't appear over time, she'd been there. She would have watched her family grieve and then die. Or worse, what if they'd forgotten about her?

 _No,_ he thought as he remembered the painting in the parlour, _No one could ever forget about Lucy._

"Second reason says you might not go into the light for fear your existence will end, or fear of the unknown," He continued, "You scared to move on?"

"I don't know," She sighed, "I think I'm more anxious about it than afraid. I mean it can't be worse than dying right?"

"But you don't remember dying."

"I remember that it hurt." She said bluntly, and he winced.

He read the other reasons to himself. The next said that the living could keep a spirit earthbound if they refused to let go, but Lucy didn't have anyone left, so he ruled that out. The last two reasons seemed the most promising.

"It says some spirits remain at the site of their death, especially if it was sudden and unexpected, because they remain confused or can't accept that they've died." He offered. "Also says they might not even know they're dead."

"I _know_ I'm dead Natsu, I'm not an idiot," She scowled, but then her expression turned sad, "I didn't at first but… Now I'm pretty sure."

"Well then it's not that, but I'd say you're definitely confused." He guessed. Lucy scrunched up her nose again and Natsu bit his lip to keep from smiling. Serious. This was a serious conversation. "Well you don't know how you died." He explained, "If we figure that out, then you can move on."

"'We'?" She raised a quizzical eyebrow at him.

"This website says that the dead sometimes get the living to assist them," He grinned, "Can't argue with the internet."

Lucy rolled her eyes, even though she probably didn't know what the internet was. Natsu gave one last look at the website before locking his phone.

"Besides, it's either that or you have unfished business." He turned to her, "Got any unfinished business Luce?"

The smile dropped off Lucy's face as though she had been slapped. Her whole body tensed and her expression became wide-eyed and unreadable. He wanted to reach out and touch her, but knew it would be pointless. She wouldn't feel it.

"Get out." She said in barely more than a whisper.

"What?" Her voice had been so small he was sure he misheard her.

"I said," She spoke louder and through clenched teeth. She stood, fists clenching at her sides. Her hair fell in front of her eyes but he could still see the tears that streaked down her face, "GET OUT!"

She screamed the words and he was sure the house shook, a blast of cold air exploding out from where she stood. Natsu felt like the breath had been torn from his lungs.

Lucy didn't wait to see if he obeyed her command. She let out a sob, the sound seeming to pierce his heart, and disappeared.

* * *

 **A/N: Finally, chapter two! Hehehe sorry about the wait!**

 **Just to let you guys know, I am currently letting people vote for my next fic on tumblr! There's a post about it with all the summaries on my blog and you don't need a tumblr account to send a message with your vote if you're interested, so please check it out!**

 **Thank you for reading and for all the kind reviews! Please keep 'em coming!**

 **Much Love,**

 **-HN**


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